Ngaoundéré: Police grabs fake money producers

Elements of the central police of Ngaoundéré have arrested one Salihou Hamidou, a young man of about 30 years, for producing fake currency notes.

According to "ŒIL du Sahel" newspaper in its August 5, 2015 issue, the man was a member of a gang of three. This group of counterfeiters was specialized in the illegal manufacturing of banknotes, stealing and scam.

After a tip-off of an ongoing preparation for a robbery attack and phone conversations tapped, the elements of the Ngaoundéré central police decided to take action.

Judicial police officer in charge of the investigation told the newspaper that "it is a very serious and well-equipped gang in its actions. According to our intelligence sources, the arrested individual had in his possession a firearm and worked in collusion with several other thug groups. That is how come we organised a team to arrest them.”

Salihou Hamidou was arrested at their hideout used for manufacturing banknotes and planning of armed robbery operations. The young man was a former prisoner.

He was already sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for the same offence. He confessed to the police that their boss, a certain Moussa, was a prisoner in the central prison of Ngaoundéré. Moussa prepared an arm robbery operations while on house arrest. The leader of the band of criminals was planning a cattle theft operation in the eastern region.

Citing a police source, the newspaper reported that “It was while in the central prison that Moussa called one of his elements. He instructed him to go to the eastern region to steal a herd of cows. He even named the village, the road to use and the time to act.”

After a thorough search in the house, the Prosecutor of the Republic and his team found computers, copying machines, half printed notes, lead, chemicals and even a fake stamp with the effigy of BEAC. Large bundles of counterfeit banknotes were also discovered in latrines and a local manufactured weapons.